Agent Spotlight: Gemma Cooper Interview and Query Critique Giveaway

Today I’m thrilled to have agent Gemma Cooper here. She is a literary agent at The Bent Agency.

Status: Update on 11/10/2023: Gemma is currently closed to submissions. Please check the agency website to find out when she reopens to queries.

Hi­ Gemma! Thanks so much for joining us.

About Gemma:

1. Tell us how you became an agent, how long you’ve been one, and what you’ve been doing as an agent.

After doing a business and psychology degree at university, I spent six years working in recruitment before moving from London to New York. There I got my real estate license and worked as a realtor for a few years. I had always been a big reader as a kid, but not so much in my twenties. Traveling around the city and waiting in the big Barnes & Noble on Union Square between appointments, I got the reading and writing bug again. When went to a writers’ conference and heard a literary agent talk about their job – the always brilliant Joanna Volpe—I knew that that was the only job I wanted. I landed an internship with Joanna and Suzie Townsend, and the more I learned about the job, the more convinced I was that it was perfect for me. I moved back to London, did another internship, undertook a maternity cover at an agency, and then I met the amazing Molly Ker Hawn from the Bent Agency and the rest is history. I’ve been an agent for over ten years now and became a director of the Bent Agency UK in 2020.

I specialize in children’s and YA fiction, with some picture books and children’s non-fiction. My sweet spot is series fiction with magic and/or humor. I love building brands and developing series that have kids queuing up with each new release. I also enjoy selling film/TV rights to my clients’ work. My clients have been New York Times and Sunday Times bestsellers, and they’ve won the Barnes & Noble Children’s Book Award, the Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and the Australian Book Industry Overall Book of the Year, and their books have been shortlisted for the Carnegie Medal, the Edgar Award and many more.

 About the Agency:

 2. Share a bit about your agency and what it offers to its authors.

The Bent Agency was founded in 2009 by Jenny Bent, and now has offices in NYC and London, with twelve agents covering all ages and genres of books. We’re proud of our collaborative approach and we’re truly transatlantic – the two offices work as one big team.

What She’s Looking For:

3. What age groups do you represent—picture books, MG, and/or YA? What genres do you represent and what are you looking for in submissions for these genres?

Chapter books, middle-grade, graphic novels and YA, plus webcomics. I do represent picture book authors, but only if they also write fiction. 

My sweet spot is middle-grade fiction, where I have the widest taste: anything from mystery to fantasy, historical to funny, adventure stories to serious topics, and all the gaps in between.

 

In young adult fiction, I’d love a standout romance or something with strong friendships or sibling relationships – contemporary, funny, or fantasy based in the real world.

 

I love high-concept funny chapter books with series potential aimed at ages 7+. I’m also looking for graphic novels and highly illustrated books for emerging readers ages 5+, with simple concepts but laugh-out-loud pre-school humor. Author/illustrators in the chapter book, graphic novel and middle-grade markets get my immediate attention.

 

Across my list I’m looking for books that make me laugh. I like books that have obvious potential for dramatic adaptation, whether for a funny pre-school TV series or a big-budget feature film. I’m very keen to see writers from historically underrepresented communities, particularly those who write chapter books and middle-grade fiction.

4.  Is there anything you would be especially excited to seeing in the genres you are interested in?

A new take on Wimpy Kid – I’m a massive fan of the series.  

A big middle-grade fantasy with exquisite attention to detail in the world building and a feisty heroine.

A YA romance with massive end-of-the-world stakes. Think Angel and Buffy (season 2 finale)

What She Isn’t Looking For:

I’m not the right fit for books that are overly serious. I don’t like books that open with a kid being bullied. I’m also not a fan of dreams in books. I’m not the agent for YA high fantasy or big sweeping epics.

5. What types of submissions are you not interested in?

Picture books

Adult fiction

Adult non-fiction.

Agent Philosophy:

6. What is your philosophy as an agent both in terms of the authors you want to work with and the books you want to represent?

Publishing is a business and I want to work with authors who take publishing seriously and treat their work like a business -- answering emails in a timely manner, dealing promptly with paperwork, sticking to deadlines and so on. I also want to work with authors who don’t talk down to their audience.

I hope that the books I represent are hugged. That they get dog-eared, their spines broken from returning to favorite pages. I hope they get wet from being read in the bath and creased from being read under the bedcovers by torch light. I want to represent books that kids love. 

Editorial Agent:

7. Are you an editorial agent? If so, what is your process like when you’re working with your authors before submitting to editors?

Yes, very much so. I tend to do two rounds of edits with clients before submission: one big edit that encompasses structural and line edits, and then a final polish before submission. That said, every author is different, so it might be that I work on outlines with an author first, or I might read three chapters and then comment before they write the rest of the book. The agent/author relationship is very individual.

Query Methods and Submission Guidelines: (Always verify before submitting)

8. How should authors query you and what do you want to see with the query letter?

Email cooperqueries@thebentagency.com

Tell me briefly who you are, about your book, and why you’re the one to write it. Include the title of your project in the subject line of your email. Then paste the first ten pages of your book in the body of your email (not as an attachment, please).

9.  Do you have any specific dislikes in query letters or the first pages submitted to you?

I like a short query letter with comp titles or a good ‘X meets Y’ elevator pitch.

Response Time:

10. What’s your response time to queries and requests for more pages of a manuscript?

I respond to all queries within 4 weeks, but usually sooner.

Self-Published and Small Press Authors:

11.  Are you open to representing authors who have self-published or been published by smaller presses? What advice do you have for them if they want to try to find an agent to represent them?

Yes. Put as much information in your query letter as you can about your self-published history, including sales if you have them, and reasons for now wanting to get an agent/go down a traditional route.

Clients:

12. Who are some of the authors you represent?

BB Alston, Jessica Townsend, Shirley Marr, Aislinn Brophy, Deanna Kent and Neil Hooson, Katrina Charman, Robin Stevens, Matt Tarpley, Mike White, PG Bell

Interviews and Guest Posts:

13. Please share the links to any interviews and guest posts you think would be helpful to writers interested in querying you.

https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-book-news/article/80669-a-debut-middle-grade-author-s-life-changing-tweet.html

https://cynthialeitichsmith.com/2017/03/2017-scbwi-europolitan-con-agent-gemma/

https://www.wordsandpics.org/2013/07/ask-agent-how-not-to-write-query.html

Links and Contact Info:

14. Please share how writers should contact you to submit a query and your links on the Web.

http://www.thebentagency.com/submission-guidelines

http://www.thebentagency.com/gemma-cooper

Update on 1/22/2022

Manuscript Wishlist

MS WishList

Twitter

Query Tracker

Additional Advice:

15. Is there any other advice you’d like to share with aspiring authors that we haven’t covered?

As an agent with a big client list, I only have room for one or two new authors a year, which means I have to pass on a lot of amazing books. Just because something isn’t for me, doesn’t mean it’s not publishable.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Gemma.

­Gemma is generously offering a query critique to one lucky winner. To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (via the follower gadget, email, or bloglovin’ on the right sidebar) and leave a comment through December 31st. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter the contest. If you do not want to enter the contest, that's okay. Just let me know in the comments.

Last updated: 1/22/2023.
Agent Contacted For Review? Yes.
Last Reviewed By Agent? 12/13/2021

Have any experience with this agent? See something that needs updating? Please leave a comment or e-mail me at natalieiaguirre7@gmail.com

Note: These agent profiles and interviews presently focus on agents who accept children's fiction. Please take the time to verify anything you might use here before querying an agent. The information found here is subject to change.